Q. How do you develop
trusting relationships with
your customers?
In our business, an awful lot
of groundwork is laid upfront
when you first establish a relationship with a prospective
client. What people don’t want
in any relationship is surprises,
so as long as you lay out in
front what you expect — and
even if it may not be what they
want to hear — at least
they’ve heard from you what
your expectations are. Most of
the better relationships, those
communications occur
upfront, and there’s a clear
understanding moving forward
on a pretty solid foundation.
There needs to be times
when you’re spending time
with them to see how their
business is going and let them
know how your business is
going. Things change over
time, and nothing remains the
same. So as the environment’s
changing, how are we adapting to that, how are they
adapting to that?
I encourage our officers to
go out and spend as much
time at the client’s place of
work rather than here at the
bank. You learn a lot more
about people in their work
environment than when you’re
in your own work environment.
It’s as simple as periodically
asking questions about clients.
Nobody likes to not have the
answer, so if they know you’re
going to be frequently asking
questions about their clients,
they’re going to be prepared to
have those answers.
Q. What’s the benefit of
creating relationships with
employees and customers?
Certainly during good
times, things are easy, but
during difficult times, if you
have a longer-term relationship with people, you tend to
be able to react in a way that
works for both parties,
rather than trying to gain
new trust or expertise.
You’re able to take care of
customers during both challenging times and times that are
stronger economic times.
HOW TO REACH: Torrey Pines Bank, (858) 523-4600 or www.torreypinesbank.com
